Stark Choice in Prince William

Sharon Pandak is easily the better candidate to chair the Board of Supervisors.

PRINCE William County, whose 350,000 people make it Virginia's second-most populous county, is in a seemingly perpetual boom, having grown by 25 percent since 2000 and by 30 percent in the decade before that. No wonder its political debate turns largely on growth and gridlock. The candidates in this fall's special election for county board chairman, Democrat Sharon E. Pandak and Republican Corey A. Stewart, both lawyers, have focused on ways to manage growth. But any similarity between them ends there, for Ms. Pandak -- by a mile -- is the better, smarter and more forthright candidate.

As Prince William's county attorney for 15 years until 2004 and as a staff lawyer in the same office for a decade before that, Ms. Pandak knows her stuff. Deeply informed about land use, transportation, planning, and the nuts and bolts of county government, she was a steady, wise, nonpartisan presence during a period of demographic upheaval in the county.

As a candidate she has advanced solid, common-sense ideas for getting a handle on growth and traffic, for instance by expanding transit options, including the extension of Metro into the county. She would resist the erratic swings in property-tax levels that have gotten the county into trouble in the past. And she would ask voters to approve a $25 million bond proposal to help the county purchase and safeguard open space. Ms. Pandak is particularly credible on the issue of land preservation; as county attorney she was instrumental in the creation of Prince William's still-scenic rural crescent.

Mr. Stewart, by contrast, is a standard-issue politician who arrived in Prince William barely five years ago and since then has run, or nearly run, in four races at the state and local levels. As a member of the Board of Supervisors representing Occoquan District since 2003, he has been a grandstander and an opportunist. He has voted against the budget because of high property taxes, then for programs funded by those same taxes to which he objects so strenuously. He makes strident calls to cut the budget but when pressed will say only that low-ranking county staffers should decide what to cut. If he becomes board chairman, the county will be in for tumultuous times.

The winner on the Nov. 7 ballot will replace former board chairman Sean T. Connaughton, who resigned to take a high-ranking federal job. Accordingly, Ms. Pandak or Mr. Stewart would serve out just the remaining year in Mr. Connaughton's term -- but would also be well positioned to run for reelection in 2007 for a full four-year term. The choice is easy: Ms. Pandak is the right steward for a county facing daunting challenges.